What is engagement variability?

engagement variability (noun)

An employee’s consistent, or inconsistent, allocation of resources into a role over time.

Engaged employees are productive employees, but even the most committed workers can’t be 100% physically, emotionally, and mentally invested in their jobs 100% of the time. In recent research, MIT Sloan assistant professor Basima Tewfik explored the phenomenon of employee engagement variability, its impact on job performance, and why it doesn’t affect all workers equally.

In a series of studies, Tewfik and her co-researchers found that higher levels of variability in employee engagement negatively affected job performance. That is, when an employee engages in their work inconsistently, its quality suffers. However, when employees were inconsistently engaged, “being lower in emotional stability [i.e., more neurotic] seemed to weaken the negative effect of engagement variability on performance,” the researchers write.

Tewfik said that neurotic behavior includes running through many different thoughts in quick succession. “If you’re also someone who is pushing and pulling away from work — inconsistently engaging — this classic neurotic behavior can make this inconsistent engagement seem a bit more instinctual, thereby lessening the hit on performance,” she said.

The researchers suggest that managers consider ways to work with the personal resources employees already have, such as what they are willing and able to invest in their jobs. Importantly, strong job performance isn’t about “doing more” but, rather, doing things more consistently.

“If you can only give half of yourself to work, giving that half consistently is better for performance compared to fully investing yourself on some days and not at all on other days,” Tewfik said.

To truly boost productivity, focus on consistent worker engagement